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Changes: Skill Runes

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{{for|their [[Diablo I: Hellfire]] and [[Diablo II: Lord of Destruction]] counterparts|Runes}}
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{{merge|Runestones}}
  
   
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[[File:RunesSkill.png|frame|Diablo III skill runes (the sixth is 'no rune chosen' sign)]]The '''Runes''' return in ''[[Diablo III]]'' in the form of skill enhancements. Unlike their second generation counterparts, Diablo III's Runes are not used in [[socket]]ed items but are used in conjunction with skills to give many additional effects that may aid the player suit his/her playing style. They function in a manner very similar to [[w:c:wow:Glyph|Glyphs]] in [[w:c:wow:World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft]].<br />Originally, they were actual items that were manually applied to each skill. Known Runes included Lethality Rune (boosted [[Critical Hit]]s), Multistrike Rune (allowed the skill to hit more targets) and Striking rune (effect unknown). Later, each rune was dubbed for its color: {{crimson|Crimson}}, {{Indigo|Indigo}}, {{obsidian|Obsidian}}, {{golden|Golden}} or {{alabaster|Alabaster}}. However, over the course of development, the [[Skill Tree]]s were simplified, and actual items called Skill Runes were removed.
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:''For their [[Diablo I: Hellfire]] and [[Diablo II: Lord of Destruction]] counterparts, see [[Runes]]''
  
   
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[[File:IconRunestones.png|thumb|300px|Old skill runes from early beta]]Instead, each skill in Diablo III has a total of five runes, one of which may be selected to augment this skill in a certain way. Most of the time, Skill Runes offer the following effects:
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The '''Runes''' return in [[Diablo III]] in the form of spell enhancements. Unlike their second generation counterparts, Diablo III's Runes are not used in [[socket]]ed items but are used in conjunction with spells to give many additional effects that may aid the player suit his/her playing style. Very similar to Glyphs in World of Warcraft.
  
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*Change [[damage]] (in % of weapon damage)
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*Convert instant damage to [[damage over time]] or vice versa
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*Change [[Elemental Damage]] type
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*Change the duration
  +
*Add, change, replace or augment the [[Crowd Control]] effects
  +
*Remove the [[cooldown]] and add a resource cost, or vice versa
  +
*Change resource cost
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*Change cooldown
  +
*Change the amount of targets the skill can hit at once
  +
*Change area of effect / range
  +
*Change the attack type ([[missile]] to torrent, or torrent to beam, for example)
  +
*Replace damaging effects with defensive ones, or vice versa
  +
*Add a specific stat bonus after using a skill, such as Core stat, [[Life per Hit]] or damage done
  +
*Replenish [[Life]] or resources after using a skill
  +
*Cause target to take increased damage after being hit by a skill
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*Reduce the target's ability to fight back after being hit by a skill
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*Change type and / or amount of summoned [[pets]]
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[[File:Diablo-500x162.jpg|thumb|300px|Skill Rune selection screen]]Some runes offer a combination of effects listed above, or add unique properties, changing skills beyond recognition.
   
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Once the skill is unlocked, five runes will be unlocked for it one by one, every few levels. A skill rune may be changed at any moment when out of combat and while the skill is not on cooldown, free of charge. However, changing a rune counts as changing skill, therefore canceling all current ongoing effects. Prior to the pre-expansion patch, changing runes triggered a cooldown if not in town, dependent on the difficulty setting.
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==Purpose==
  
   
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Some [[Legendary Items|legendary]] items add a skill rune (or even ''all ''possible runes) to a skill, in addition to the one already chosen by player, effectively allowing the skill to have more than one rune at a time. Note that some skill-enhancing effects, and even some runes, are mutually exclusive, as their effects may not be combined due to the way they work (for example, {{3|Teleport}} may not gain both Wormhole and Reversal runes at once; Reversal will be suppressed). It is up to player to decide, and yet some runes may render a specific bonus completely useless. Elemental Damage type for a skill with multiple runes is usually determined by the rune that is selected manually, or by highest bonus to elemental skill damage the player has.
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The approach the Diablo III team has taken towards the overhaul of the hugely successful Runes of Diablo II has resulted in an even more brave and unique venture into game mechanics. Unlike the Diablo II Runes, which when inserted into socketed items would give bonuses like other socketable items, Diablo III's Runes can be used to increase the functionality of the actual character skills in the game.
  
   
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Each rune is visually distinct from others: textures and graphics change with every rune compared to unmodified skills and to other runes of the same skill.
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Each Rune is named much more understandably than their previous incarnations, so that their effect when used is immediately discernible. Various combinations of these Runes may provide an almost infinite number of modifications to a spell, from increasing the number of projectiles to transforming a defensive shield spell into an offensive barricade. The myriad options that lie before players in customizing their characters has increased many times over.
  
   
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Skills triggered by items may or may not benefit from runes and other enhancements; however, even if they do, they will only do so as long as player has this skill and has augmented it with a rune.
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==In game==
  
   
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==Gallery==
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The actual inventory image of Runes have not yet been seen but from the gameplay video, their dropped images appear more or less similar to the Runes from Diablo II. They have names like Rune of Lethality and Rune of Multistrike that can allow the player to judge what they do before they pick it up.
  
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===Runes===
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<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" spacing="small" widths="64" hideaddbutton="true">
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D3 Rune El.png | El
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D3 Rune Eld.png | Eld
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D3 Rune Tir.png | Tir
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D3 Rune Nef.png | Nef
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D3 Rune Eth.png | Eth
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D3 Rune Ith.png | Ith
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D3 Rune Tal.png | Tal
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D3 Rune Ral.png | Ral
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D3 Rune Ort.png | Ort
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D3 Rune Thul.png | Thul
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D3 Rune Amn.png | Amn
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D3 Rune Sol.png | Sol
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D3 Rune Shael.png | Shael
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D3 Rune Dol.png | Dol
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D3 Rune Hel.png | Hel
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D3 Rune Io.png | Io
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D3 Rune Lum.png | Lum
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D3 Rune Ko.png | Ko
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D3 Rune Fal.png | Fal
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D3 Rune Lem.png | Lem
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D3 Rune Pul.png | Pul
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D3 Rune Um.png | Um
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D3 Rune Mal.png | Mal
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D3 Rune Ist.png | Ist
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D3 Rune Gul.png | Gul
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D3 Rune Vex.png | Vex
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D3 Rune Ohm.png | Ohm
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D3 Rune Lo.png | Lo
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D3 Rune Sur.png | Sur
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D3 Rune Ber.png | Ber
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D3 Rune Jah.png | Jah
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D3 Rune Cham.png | Cham
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D3 Rune Zod.png | Zod
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</gallery>
   
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===Runestones===
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Blizzard now has 7 or 8 different Runes created, with 5 to 6 different quality levels like Minor, normal and Major created. Their rune creation process has them thinking what kinds of effects would many spells benefit from, and if they cover a wide range of spells from all characters, they proceed to create the Rune. The Runes will have varying levels of power depending on their quality level. For example, a Minor Multistrike Rune attached to the [[Skull of Flame]] will make projectile skip along the ground once , but higher quality Runes like the Major Multistrike Rune may raise the amount of bounces and the distance traveled by the projectile.
  
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<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" spacing="medium" widths="64" perrow="7" hideaddbutton="true">
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D3 Crimson Runestone Rank 1.png | Crimson Rank 1
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As mentioned before, Runes drop quite often in Diablo III and can be found and used almost like [[Potions]] were in the previous games. Higher level Runes are much harder to come by and compensate their rarity by granting spectacular effects to the spells they are used in.
  
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D3 Crimson Runestone Rank 2.png | Crimson Rank 2
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D3 Crimson Runestone Rank 3.png | Crimson Rank 3
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{{d3runes}}
  
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D3 Crimson Runestone Rank 4.png | Crimson Rank 4
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[[Category:Diablo III Items]]
  
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D3 Crimson Runestone Rank 5.png | Crimson Rank 5
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D3 Crimson Runestone Rank 6.png | Crimson Rank 6
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D3 Crimson Runestone Rank 7.png | Crimson Rank 7
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D3 Indigo Runestone Rank 1.png | Indigo Rank 1
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D3 Indigo Runestone Rank 2.png | Indigo Rank 2
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D3 Indigo Runestone Rank 3.png | Indigo Rank 3
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D3 Indigo Runestone Rank 4.png | Indigo Rank 4
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D3 Indigo Runestone Rank 5.png | Indigo Rank 5
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D3 Indigo Runestone Rank 6.png | Indigo Rank 6
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D3 Indigo Runestone Rank 7.png | Indigo Rank 7
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D3 Obsidian Runestone Rank 1.png | Obsidian Rank 1
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D3 Obsidian Runestone Rank 2.png | Obsidian Rank 2
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D3 Obsidian Runestone Rank 3.png | Obsidian Rank 3
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D3 Obsidian Runestone Rank 4.png | Obsidian Rank 4
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D3 Obsidian Runestone Rank 5.png | Obsidian Rank 5
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D3 Obsidian Runestone Rank 6.png | Obsidian Rank 6
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D3 Obsidian Runestone Rank 7.png | Obsidian Rank 7
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D3 Golden Runestone Rank 1.png | Golden Rank 1
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D3 Golden Runestone Rank 2.png | Golden Rank 2
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D3 Golden Runestone Rank 3.png | Golden Rank 3
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D3 Golden Runestone Rank 4.png | Golden Rank 4
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D3 Golden Runestone Rank 5.png | Golden Rank 5
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D3 Golden Runestone Rank 6.png | Golden Rank 6
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D3 Golden Runestone Rank 7.png | Golden Rank 7
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D3 Alabaster Runestone Rank 1.png | Alabaster Rank 1
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D3 Alabaster Runestone Rank 2.png | Alabaster Rank 2
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D3 Alabaster Runestone Rank 3.png | Alabaster Rank 3
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D3 Alabaster Runestone Rank 4.png | Alabaster Rank 4
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D3 Alabaster Runestone Rank 5.png | Alabaster Rank 5
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D3 Alabaster Runestone Rank 6.png | Alabaster Rank 6
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D3 Alabaster Runestone Rank 7.png | Alabaster Rank 7
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D3 Unattuned Runestone Rank 1.png | Unattuned Rank 1
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D3 Unattuned Runestone Rank 2.png | Unattuned Rank 2
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D3 Unattuned Runestone Rank 3.png | Unattuned Rank 3
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D3 Unattuned Runestone Rank 4.png | Unattuned Rank 4
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D3 Unattuned Runestone Rank 5.png | Unattuned Rank 5
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D3 Unattuned Runestone Rank 6.png | Unattuned Rank 6
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D3 Unattuned Runestone Rank 7.png | Unattuned Rank 7
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</gallery>
 
[[Category:Diablo III]]
  
[[Category:Diablo III]]
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[[Category:Gameplay]]
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[[Category:Skills]]
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[[Category:Diablo III Skills]]

Latest revision as of 22:41, 2 November 2019

For their Diablo I: Hellfire and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction counterparts, see Runes.
RunesSkill

Diablo III skill runes (the sixth is 'no rune chosen' sign)

The Runes return in Diablo III in the form of skill enhancements. Unlike their second generation counterparts, Diablo III's Runes are not used in socketed items but are used in conjunction with skills to give many additional effects that may aid the player suit his/her playing style. They function in a manner very similar to Glyphs in World of Warcraft.
Originally, they were actual items that were manually applied to each skill. Known Runes included Lethality Rune (boosted Critical Hits), Multistrike Rune (allowed the skill to hit more targets) and Striking rune (effect unknown). Later, each rune was dubbed for its color: Crimson, Indigo, Obsidian, Golden or Alabaster. However, over the course of development, the Skill Trees were simplified, and actual items called Skill Runes were removed.

IconRunestones

Old skill runes from early beta

Instead, each skill in Diablo III has a total of five runes, one of which may be selected to augment this skill in a certain way. Most of the time, Skill Runes offer the following effects:

  • Change damage (in % of weapon damage)
  • Convert instant damage to damage over time or vice versa
  • Change Elemental Damage type
  • Change the duration
  • Add, change, replace or augment the Crowd Control effects
  • Remove the cooldown and add a resource cost, or vice versa
  • Change resource cost
  • Change cooldown
  • Change the amount of targets the skill can hit at once
  • Change area of effect / range
  • Change the attack type (missile to torrent, or torrent to beam, for example)
  • Replace damaging effects with defensive ones, or vice versa
  • Add a specific stat bonus after using a skill, such as Core stat, Life per Hit or damage done
  • Replenish Life or resources after using a skill
  • Cause target to take increased damage after being hit by a skill
  • Reduce the target's ability to fight back after being hit by a skill
  • Change type and / or amount of summoned pets
Diablo-500x162

Skill Rune selection screen

Some runes offer a combination of effects listed above, or add unique properties, changing skills beyond recognition.

Once the skill is unlocked, five runes will be unlocked for it one by one, every few levels. A skill rune may be changed at any moment when out of combat and while the skill is not on cooldown, free of charge. However, changing a rune counts as changing skill, therefore canceling all current ongoing effects. Prior to the pre-expansion patch, changing runes triggered a cooldown if not in town, dependent on the difficulty setting.

Some legendary items add a skill rune (or even all possible runes) to a skill, in addition to the one already chosen by player, effectively allowing the skill to have more than one rune at a time. Note that some skill-enhancing effects, and even some runes, are mutually exclusive, as their effects may not be combined due to the way they work (for example, Teleport may not gain both Wormhole and Reversal runes at once; Reversal will be suppressed). It is up to player to decide, and yet some runes may render a specific bonus completely useless. Elemental Damage type for a skill with multiple runes is usually determined by the rune that is selected manually, or by highest bonus to elemental skill damage the player has.

Each rune is visually distinct from others: textures and graphics change with every rune compared to unmodified skills and to other runes of the same skill.

Skills triggered by items may or may not benefit from runes and other enhancements; however, even if they do, they will only do so as long as player has this skill and has augmented it with a rune.

Gallery

Runes

Runestones

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